Lesson 3 is quite complicated, it has to do with the relationship between burning coal and climate change. Some people never get it. Malcolm Roberts is one of them. People have been explaining it to him for years. He belongs to the party which is made up of people who don’t get it either.

Brian Cox had a crack on Q and A

Chief Scientist Alan Finkel has prepared a dummies guide for him

None of this seems to work for Malcolm, so I don’t suppose it is going to work for you.

The science goes like this.

When you burn call, carbon dioxide is released into the atmosphere. Atmospheric carbon dioxide traps heat In the atmosphere.

This causes the planet to warm up. As the planet warms up, summers get hotter. As a result, two things happen. Ice caps melt and sea levels rise. Forests and bush land become drier and catch fire much more easily. Australia, which has a lot of bush, then has more frequent and more intense bushfires. These cost a lot of money and burn down people’s houses.

That’s how burning coal hurts you.

I know that’s pretty complicated. But I don’t think I can make it any more simple.